In Summer 2018, members of the CUNY Assessment Council decided to collaborate on developing an online course to benefit faculty and staff across the CUNY system by introducing the  basic principles of assessment.  With the recently revised Middle States Standards and the increased demand for institutional effectiveness, the timing was ideal for a project of this kind. CUNY’s Office of Academic Affairs agreed and provided a grant of $20,000 to the project. While Council members volunteered their time to developing the curriculum and creating and organizing course content, the CUNY Office of Academic Affairs grant allowed for the hiring of a professional designer to convert their work into an accessible and functional online course. The goal to bring this no-cost professional development course to fruition has taken approximately two years

The Assessment 101 project was co-chaired by Abigail Morrison, Assistant Dean of Institutional Effectiveness & Planning, CUNY School of Professional Studies; Erika Carlson, Associate Director of Assessment, Borough of Manhattan Community College; and Rachél Fester, Assistant Provost for Assessment, Accreditation, and Institutional Effectiveness, Baruch College.  They headed a group of approximately 20 Assessment Council members from across CUNY, whose expertise contributed to the creation of this robust introduction to assessment of student learning and support outcomes for academic, administrative, educational, and student support units.

Although the project was recognized as a needed resource for the CUNY community, it was nonetheless a labor of love. The largest hurdle was finding the time for this all-volunteer team of content developers and project managers to meet and to maintain momentum, while attending to their full-time work of leading and supporting assessment, institutional research, and /or accreditation projects on their own campuses.

Assessment 101 is a truly collaborative, volunteer project, developed by content area experts who have a strong commitment to educate and to support their colleagues in their primary task—student success. It is the hope of the Assessment Council that faculty and staff from across the campuses will enroll in this online class, either as an introduction, or a refresher, to expand their knowledge base and further empower them in the vital work of assessment.

Assessment 101 is accessible to all CUNY faculty, staff and students. To find out more and for instructions on registering for the course visit the CUNY Assessment Council website.

April 2021 Webinar

This webinar is an overview of assessment and the power of collaboration.  We hope that it inspires you to take the free, online Assessment 101 course that the CUNY Assessment Council developed for the entire CUNY community.